Lock and latch mechanism.



UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY G. VOIGHT, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO RUSSELL & ERWIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN. CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

No. 837,01 l.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 27, 1906.

Application filed .Tune 12,1906 Serial No. 321,312.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. VOIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, county of Hartford, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lock and Latch Mechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in lock and latch mechanism, and particularly of the type shown in my former patent, N o. 790,936, dated hIay 30, 1905.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction so that it will be more secure against tampering. Vhen such mechanisms are attached to swinging doors, as is customary, the doors and frames are always likely to shrink more or less and leave some little space at the edge of the door. Vhen the lock is what is known as a reverse bevel-lock for application to doors which swing outwardly, trouble is sometimes experienced by reason of a person tampering with the bolt or the night-latch or stop mech# anism. To prevent such tampering, mechanism has been employed to lock the bolt in its extended position. Mechanism has also been employed to lock the night-latch or stop mechanism when the door is closed. Such supplementary locking or Guarding devices, while very efficient and reliable, are nevertheless expensive and in some cases difficult to install. My present application contemplates the prevention of such tampering by l simple means which may be constructed at reasonable cost.

The accompanying single sheet of drawings illustrates the principles of the invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view and fragmentary section illustrating the invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view of a fragment of mechanism embodying my invention.

The outer and inner side plates 1 and 2 carry, respectively, the outer and inner knobs 3 and 4. To aline the plates and knobs pro erly, the pins 5 5 telescope in sockets in tfie block 6. The plates may be drawn together by a screw or screws, such as 7. The faceplate 8 is secured to the inner side plate 2 and has an opening through which the bolt 9 is adapted to protrude. This bolt is preferably of the usual spring-pressed type, provided with a slide 10.

11 is a spindle affording a portion of the means of connection between the outer knob and the slide. Since the method of connecting the knobs and slide and the operation thereof is not involved in this invention, a detailed description and illustration is unnecessary.

12 is a strike-plate provided with a suitable opening for the bolt and secured in a suitable manner to the door-jamb 13. The end of the outer side plate 1 projects beyond the end of the strike-plate 12 and is provided with a pocket 14, in which the end of the strike-plate is housed or protected. The end of the face-plate 8 preferably extends into this pocket 14, so that a better appearance and finish is given to the mechanism when the door is open. The length of the outer side plate 1 and the size of the pocket 14 should be sufficient to allow for the extreme expansion or contraction of the door-casing-that is, such expansion or contraction as might be expected to occur in ordinarily good construction. By this construction the insertion of an instrument at the edge of the door' for the purpose of tampering with the mechanism ordinarily exposed is practically impossible and the mechanism therefore made much safer. This construction also not only protects the strike-plate, but covers it up so that there is no danger of catching any article of clothing, for instance, upon it. In some instances where the casinor of the door is light and yielding it has been found possible by the use of a powerful instrument to force back the casing sufficiently to permit the door to swing outward. This forcing back, of course, means that a space isopened up between the door and the casing'. My improved construction prevents this, since the casing could not in any event be forced away from the door farther than the clearance allowed between the outer face of the strike-plate and the adjacent wall of the pocket 14.

What I claim is- 1. In a lock and latch mechanism, side plates adapted to the opposite sides of the door and adjustable to doors of different thicknesses, a latch-bolt, and a strike-plate, the outer side plate having a pocket to receive the end of said strike-plate.

2. In a lock and latch mechanism, a pair of side plates, a face-plate carried by the inner IOO side plate, and a latch-bolt adapted to prol trude therethrough, the outer side plate eX- tending beyond said face-plate and having a pocket to receive the end of said face-plate.

3. Amechanism of the character described, comprising plates adapted to the opposite sides of a door7 and means of-connection between said plates permitting their adjustment to doors of different thicknesses, a face- Io plate carried by one of said side plates, a bolt adapted to rotrude through said face-plate, and means or operating said bolt, one of said HENRY G. VOIGHT. Witnesses:

M. S. WIARD, C. E. RUSSELL. 

